The present invention relates to devices called spatulas used by a physician for collecting cancer cell specimens within the cervical canal and the cervical os. These devices have been heretofore manufactured in a form having a long straight insertion handle terminating in a scraping head comprising a laterally extending positioning leg which limits the insertion depth of a finger-like portion extending longitudinally beyond this leg and positioned in alignment with the handle of the device. These devices are generally made of wood or synthetic plastic material and are sold in sterilized packages at a cost where they are used only once. The finger-like portion of the scraping head is inserted by the physician into the cervical canal as far as the positioning leg will permit, and as a scraping surface on the inner leg-containing side of the finger-like portion thereof is urged against the cervical canal the device is rotated along its longitudinal axis so that the inner longitudinal side of the finger-like portion and the positioning leg of the scraping head collect cell specimens. The cells are transferred to a test slide for microscope examination by tapping and sliding the scraping head against the slide.
In the wooden spatula, the wood is porous and some of the cells and fluid collected are absorbed by the porous wooden surface on the scraping side of the scraping head. It was found that these spatulas have a limited scraping action since the surface of the scraping side of the scraping head is not of sufficient roughness for efficient scraping of surface cells which are especially meaningful to the cytologist reading slides of such specimen. Also, because of the porous nature of the spatulas, cells which are absorbed by the porous wooden surfaces thereof are not easily transferred to a test slide and frequently remain on or in the pores of the scraping heads thereof.
The synthetic plastic spatulas were made with grooves in scraping surface of the spatula, which grooves formed pockets for collecting cell specimens which are very readily transferable to the test slides. Because of the narrowness of the scraping surfaces utilized, the grooves were formed in a lateral direction to form a large number of open-ended grooves which provide a better collection and transfer of cell specimens to the test slides. However, the resulting sawtooth-like profile, in the process of longitudinally inserting and removing the scraping head into and from the cervical canal, frequently ruptures surface blood vessels which can cause discomfort and some minor bleeding which results in blood in the cell samples which hinders examination of the cell specimens on the test slide to which the cell samples are transferred and results in needless bleeding of the patient. For these reasons, the physician using this spatula is instructed to press the smooth backside of the scraping head against the cervical canal during the insertion and removal of the spatula from the cervix. Not infrequently, however, the doctor fails to do this and the undesired blood appears with the collected cell specimens. Also in case of a very tight cervical canal it may not be possible for the physician to press down sufficiently on the smooth backside of the scraping head as per instructions and the grooves come in direct contact with the tissue during insertion and removal and as a result traumatize the cervix and make it difficult if not impossible to avoid bleeding.
It is acccordingly one of the objects of the present invention to provide an improved spatula for collecting cell specimens from the cervical canal which does not have the disadvantages of the prior spatulas above described.